paula broadwell and jill kelly, so far no response. general petraeus was scheduled to testify on capitol hill this thursday about the attack in benghazi on the u.s. consulate. now, the acting cia director, michael morrell, is expected to testify in his place. that has upset some lawmakers who say petraeus is key to getting answers. lester? >> kristen welker tonight, thank you. >>> now to the other big story that has consumed washington in the days since the election. the so-called fiscal cliff looming at the end of the year. if democrats and republicans can't come together and agree on a deal to avert it, taxes are going to go up for most americans. we get the latest tonight from nbc's mike viqueira. >> reporter: today top democrats drew a hard line. it's either higher taxes on the wealthy or the nation goes over the fiscal cliff. >> if the republicans will not agree with that, we will reach a point at the end of this year where all the tax cuts expire, and we'll start over next year. >> reporter: this as one influential conservative c